Solid-state batteries are pivotal technologies for next-generation energy storage needs. However, they are plagued with various challenges from materials and interfaces all the way out to integration into devices. Herein, we discuss several new pathways that our team has evaluated to drive the research towards practical solid-state batteries. Initially, we highlight SolidPAC, which is an interactive experimental toolkit developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to enable the design of a solid-state battery for user-specified application requirements. The toolkit is flexible enough to assist the battery community in quantifying the impact of materials chemistry and fractions, electrode thicknesses and loadings, and electron flows on cell energy density and cost. The toolkit allows users to assess and extrapolate the impact of battery design and choice of cell components on cell-level energy density of a solid-state battery. Subsequently, we will discuss some key experimental strategies that leverage cheap and scalable electrochemical approaches towards the integration and on-line management of solid-state batteries. Specifically, these approaches are aimed to alleviate high interfacial resistances typically observed in some SSB configurations as well as to mitigate the growth of filaments within the solid electrolyte.